


Let's Do This One More Time

by quiverby



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 03:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18402611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiverby/pseuds/quiverby
Summary: In Which the Garrison Trio is given a second chance at that simulator





	Let's Do This One More Time

An ex-rebel leader is a good thing to have around. He can talk to students about what it is to really be out in the trenches, however willingly, or he can teach bo-ish staff fighting after class in the gym. A  _ bored _ ex-rebel leader is a terrible thing to have around, especially when he's bored and decides to go through old files to see what his sister got up to when she was at the Garrison. 

It was when he saw the utter disaster that was the last flight sim run, worse than his by a power of ten, with so many stupid little things going wrong that could be fixed by a little change here or there. The worst bit? They were set up to fail. Sure, what probably happened is that some brainiac somewhere thought the best engineer and the best comms would help pull along the weaker pilot, but  _ that's not how you make a team, you idiots. _ Now, though, battle-seasoned and closer than even he could ever wish for in his teams, they could nail it, and get revenge on the idiot who put them through that, and Matt is absolutely going to make that happen.

Three days later, after a conversation with his parents, a robotic message crosses the PA:  _ Officers P. Holt, H. Garrett and L. McLean report to Office 42 in H2 block.  _ Matt's ready, wearing an old-school grey uniform he nicked from Shiro's old stash, feet up on a desk, and a huge smirk on his face. Beside his feet on the desk are two very important things: A recording camera and a length of rope. 

"Dude, what's this about?" Lance is the first in, surprised to see Matt rather than an actual Garrison officer. 

Hunk's in next, still wearing an apron from helping with lunch. "Yeah... Matt? Is everything alright? The Galra aren't..."

He's cut off by Pidge's arrival, grumbling. "If this is anything short of an attack, brother-mine, you aren't going to have a working communicator for a month." 

Matt stands up, taking the things on the desk and grinning. "Trust me. This is worth it. Let's go." 

The trio grumble, but follow him out the door and through the hall until they get to a sim with a rope blocking the entrance: Closed by order of Commander S. Holt. Pidge's eyes widen and she launches herself at her brother to give him a huge hug. "Matt! You're a genius. Of course we can do this now!"

He hugs back, eyes sparkling as the boys grin at each other. "Dad and I have plans for after you nail this. So I've got things ready to record, you just go in and do exactly what you do." 

Before he can step back, Pidge hugs him again, followed by a slightly-teary Hunk and a handshake from Lance. "Thanks, man. This means a lot." 

The trio steps in and Matt closes the door, starting all of his recordings. Pulling out his tablet, he watches the almost-picture-perfect rescue mission, Lance taking chances but reacting and responding accordingly, Pidge nailing her communications, having taken a moment before they launched to set her seat in a place where she could reach everything, and Hunk, somewhat to his surprise, not even feeling the least bit like he wants to hurl, and fixing everything to be better than whey they launched. 

On the screen, just at the end, instead of the usual 'mission end' text, Matt programmed little pictures of himself, his father and Shiro waving at the incoming rescue. When they come out of the sim, Matt has a proud and ecstatic look on his face. "Oh, man. I've never seen anyone nail that so well. You guys are the absolute best." 

He beams, but he grabs his tablet and quickly downloads the footage, and smirks at the trio. "Now, for phase two. You'll get a link on your tablets in about half an hour.” Pulling his cape from somewhere, and swooshing it around him, he runs off, calling back to them: "My work here is done!" 

In exactly half an hour, a link to a livestream appears on each of the Trio's tablets. Clicking it brings them to a security camera in a classroom, showing Commander Iverson tied to a chair in front of a projection screen. Sam is in full lecture-mode. "Now, Commander, we're going to watch a video. And we're going to show you exactly what team building actually is." 

Matt steps in from the side, this time in his full Rebel Leader gear, a serious expression on his face. "Yes. We're going to show you how to build up a team, not just shame them in the hopes they get better." Crossing his arms in a subconscious imitation of Shiro, he steps back while his father starts up the video of the Trio's spotless run. In his chair, Iverson starts shouting about an inappropriate use of resources, but Matt snaps. "Shut up, you idiot. I wanted to give them the chance they never had, to show everyone how good they can be. Now just shut your trap and watch." 

The video's playback stuns the Commander for a moment, and then shuts off, Sam stepping forward. "Now, if this was a class, we would want feedback on what they did right, but I think we all in this room know there wasn't a damn thing they did wrong. Remember that, Iverson, the next time you're about to yell at cadets. A little encouragement goes a long way." 

"Yeah, exactly." Matt goes to untie Iverson, then steps back. "Now, I think you have some apologies to make." The Holts leave the room, and the feed goes dark. Matt's work here is truly, finally done.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is inspired by a Voltron Tumblr Confession and Hika, who is an awesome Pidge.
> 
> Matt's stolen office is a Hitchhiker's Guide reference.


End file.
